A local organization is highlighting the importance of blood donations in the Tennessee Valley, particularly from the Black community. They are using Juneteenth and World Sickle Cell Day to raise awareness.
Lorean Mays, African American and Sickle Cell Initiative Manager for Blood Assurance, emphasized the critical need for blood donations.
“We have a dire need for blood right now. So not only are we supplying blood to specific patients for specific crises or emergencies but we’re the primary blood supplier in our area,” Mays said.
She stressed the life-saving impact of donating blood, saying, “At the end of the day we need to remember we are not just going to give someone our blood. We are literally going to save someone’s life.”
Mays highlighted that African Americans are often the best match for other African Americans or those of African American descent due to genetic factors.
“It’s prevalent so much in the Black community to the point where we look on paper in data to be the only ones that are extremely affected by it,” Mays said, referring to sickle cell disease.
Beyond saving lives, Mays believes that blood donation can foster important health conversations within the Black community.
“We are facing also like a two-edged sword because a lot of folks in the Black community don’t know how to have those conversations with their primary care because we are not taught to advocate for ourselves either,” said Mays.
She hopes the younger generation will lead the way in advocating for self-care and health awareness.
“I think we have to set the tone to get past what has happened historically because at the end of the day it’s still going to take us to save us,” Mays said.
Two blood drives are scheduled for Friday in Scottsboro, with another one planned for next week.
You can donate blood at Maple Industries from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. or Walmart in Scottsboro from noon until 5 p.m. Next week’s blood drive is on June 26 at First Southern State Bank. It will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
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